It started with a simple question.

One day, at the age of 5, I asked my mom, “Doesn’t everybody have clean water?”

I had always thought that clean water was something everyone had. It was there when I turned on the faucet, when I was thirsty, and when my family needed it. I never had to stop and wonder whether the water I was drinking was safe.

My mom’s answer changed the way I saw the world.

“No,” she told me. “Not everybody has clean water.”

I remember being surprised. How could something so important—something I had never had to think twice about—not be available to everyone?

As a Sri Lankan family, we knew that there were communities in Sri Lanka where children and families did not have reliable access to clean water. That realization stayed with us. We began asking ourselves a bigger question: If we know this is happening, what can we do to help?

That question became the beginning of Water for Our Daughter.

What started with one child’s simple question grew into a mission to help provide clean, safe water to children and families in Sri Lanka by building wells in communities that need them.

With the help of my Uncle Huzefa and the Open Foundation for Education, Empowerment and Development (OPEN FEED), a non-profit, non-government organization working to create positive change in Sri Lanka, we are able to turn our ideas into real projects. OPEN FEED helps us identify communities most in need, facilitates the funds we raise, and works with us on the ground to build wells that provide families with access to clean, safe water. Their support and local knowledge have been an important part of making Water for Our Daughters possible.

I learned that change can begin with something as simple as asking a question—and caring enough to do something about the answer.

-Iman S.  (12)

Co-founder of Water for Our Daughters

With the love and support of my parents and sister, and family who have helped me bring this project to life.